Monday, June 9, 2014

Had a good time at TLGB Pride in L.A. yesterday. Nice to hear many talented artists perform, get some sun, eat delicious food, enjoy summer cocktails, visit information booths and most importantly see old friends. An interesting summer in Los Angeles: The "GL" Center renames to Los Angeles LGBT Center, Pride organizers put T in front of "TLGB" Pride and many Angelinos are speaking out against transphobia in gay male spaces, which happens frequently in L.A. (where the controversial RuPaul's Drag Race show is filmed and many noted transphobes reside). - It's good to see L.A. trying, and although names and words are very important, so are the ideas and messages we send out into the world, and the undeniable consequences of certain actions. So when you are at The Abbey in West Hollywood and the waiter accidentally spills a drink on you don't yell out to the distressed waiter, - "You freakin' tra**y, look what you did, selfish jerk". - Instead you should 1) realize it was an accident and 2) maybe just not hurl around anti-transsexual slurs at all for they are poisoning our society with anti-trans sentiment, marginalization and all forms of violence. - In the spirit of Pride it does feel great to have CSW L.A. Pride and the L.A. Center make these positive gestures, especially at a time when the rift between the LGB and the T* communities is wide. - Hopefully we understand that attacking someone else's pride by promoting the misgendering and dehumanization of women with birth challenges is not "cool", "hip", "edgy" or a gosh dang freakin' "term of endearment". Authentic "endearment" is sincerely listening to our feelings and actually looking at the facts, not blindly or consciously encouraging transphobia via defamation and misinformation campaigns. - What L.A. non-profits did this summer was take a stand and say words DO matter, and they showed us that by editing their names. This is a real Pride month in L.A. Let's all be inspired from Los Angeles and make changes that affirm and reflect all transsexual and transgender Americans. Hope you have a great rest of your Pride month!